hesiods theogony

The Gods of Greek Hexameter Poetry from the Archaic Age to Late Antiquity and Beyond, 2016

Reproductive BioMedicine Online, 2008

The Gods of Greek Hexameter Poetry: From the Archaic Age to Late Antiquity and Beyond, eds. J. Clauss, A. Kahane and M. Cuypers, 2016

This essay examines the way that the "plot of Zeus" to reduce the human population -- and bring an end to the age of heroes -- plays out in the fragments of the Hesiodic *Catalogue of Women*. In particular, I argue that the *Catalogue* occupies a middle position between that of the *Theogony* and *Works and Days*, in terms of the human perspective of events, in that it both shows the Gods' inscrutable plans, and demonstrates mortals' failure to understand them.

2019

they would be invaluable allies for Zeus in the struggle against the Titans. Since they were sent down to Tartaros afterwards to act as guards to the defeated Titans, they make no further appearance in myth, at least as a group. One of the brothers, BRIAREOS (the Mighty One, also called Ombriareos), has independent stories nonetheless which are set during the period of Olympian rule. He is marked out from his brothers even in the Theogony, for it is stated there that Poseidon made him his son-in-law at some point after the fall of the Titans by offering him his daughter Kymopoleia (Wavewalker, otherwise unknown) as a wife. 14 The Iliad reports that he was once summoned to Olympos by Thetis to save Zeus from a threatened revolt by Hera, Poseidon and Athena 15 (see p. 82); since Thetis was a seanymph, this would suggest that he lived in the sea, as might also be inferred from his relationship with Poseidon in the Theogony. Homer also remarks that he was called Briareos by the gods but was known to mortals as Aigaion. 16 In the Titanomachy, an early epic now lost, Aigaion was apparently described as a son of Gaia and Pontos (Sea) who lived in the sea and fought as an ally of the Titans. 17 If this Aigaion can be identified with Briareos, as seems likely, this account of him clearly differed in crucial respects from that in the Theogony. A Corinthian tradition suggested that Briareos had acted as arbitrator when Helios and Poseidon had competed for possession of the land in early times (see p. 103). 18 He was honoured in cult on Euboea under two different names, as Briareos at Karystos and as Aigaion at Chalkis. 19 All in all, he is a most intriguing figure, and one would like to know more of him than can be gathered from these surviving scraps.

It is well known that the pre-Hellenic, Minoan civilization was characterized by matriarchy, an obvious trait in the religious field as well, represented by a pantheon governed by a Magna Mater. The male deities were not missing, but they were usually inferior to the female ones, playing rather the part of a drone in a hive, by the almighty queen. One of these male deities, perhaps the most prominent one, was the one that the Greeks would name Zeus the Cretan (Velchanos, by his autochthonous name), whose worship has left important traces in Crete, the cradle of the Minoan civilization. Far from being the thunderous Zeus of the Greeks, Velchanos was represented as a fragile adolescent, seated between the branches of a willow and holding a cock in his hand, image a long while maintained on the coins. The intention of our paper is to highlight the characteristics of this deity, the simbolistics of the objects which define him and the domain he was patronizing, as well as the way Velchanos becomes Vulcan, the patron of fire and thus of handicrafts, once he penetrates the Roman pantheon. Over the last few years, our interest and research has been focusing on the pre-hellenic mythology and religion (deities, rites, places of worship, customs, etc.), insofar as they can be guessed from a few literary testimonies that have come to our hands or from certain objects which are the result of excavations. This is a paper in which comparative mythology needs to rely on graphic representations: mural or ceramic paintings, figurines or other tridimensional objects, which come from or bring evidence of the Minoan Age, as late relics of this era, which preceded and significantly influenced classical Greek mythology and religion. We have payed additional attention to masculine gods, more interesting and not so well outlined within a matriarchal civilization. We have already dealt with Hephaistos, with Dionysos, with Hermes, whose names are written on the Linear B tablets 1. We

PhD Dissertation, defended in August 2015 / This is a study of Orphic literature that does two things: (1) reconstructs the tradition of Orphic theogonies (four poems about the births of the gods: Derveni, Eudemian, Hieronyman, Rhapsodies); and (2) attempts to explain how the Neoplatonists of later antiquity applied allegorical interpretation to Orphic theogonies, specifically the Rhapsodies.

AJP, 2014

Hesiod and the Theogony’s protagonist, Zeus, are engaged in parallel programs. They both assimilate and co-opt competing, preexisting forces and material in order to reorganize their respective worlds—theogonic poetry and cosmos. Hesiod’s poetics of incorporation are especially apparent in the story of Prometheus (507–616), where Hesiod synthesizes different strands of Prometheus’ mythic tradition. Seeming contradictions in the narrative are actually signs of Hesiod’s reworking of the story, meant to be perceptible to an audience. Likewise, Zeus’ politics of co-option brings rivals safely into his regime, culminating in his literal incorporation of Metis.